Background: News footage of the scene in Lansing, Mich., where a 4-year-old girl died of a gunshot wound (WILX). Inset: Maliki Pendergrass (Lansing Police Department).
A Michigan man faces criminal charges after a 4-year-old girl reportedly shot herself in the head with an unsecured gun.
Maliki Pendergrass, 22, was arrested in connection with the death of a 4-year-old girl who succumbed to a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Jan. 21 at a home in Lansing. According to a press release from the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office obtained by Law&Crime, police responded to the home at 11:40 a.m. that day and found the little girl with a gunshot wound to the head. Lifesaving efforts were made by first responders, but the girl was pronounced dead at the scene.
Prosecutors said the gun that the girl found was "improperly stored" inside the home. The relationship between the girl and Pendergrass was not provided to the public.
Pendergrass, who had a prior felony conviction, was not allowed to own a firearm. Prosecutors charged him with six felony firearms charges including two safe storage violations. He was booked into jail by the Lansing Police Department, where he is being held on $1 million bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 6.
In his press release, Ingham County Prosecuting Attorney John Dewane called the death of the girl "completely preventable," adding that it "would not have occurred had the firearm been safely stored as required by Michigan law, using a gun lock or gun safe. One life lost is one too many, and we must do everything in our power to protect our children from preventable tragedies like this."
Local NBC affiliate WILX spoke to neighbors who lived at the same apartment complex where the fatal shooting took place. One woman who did not want to appear on camera told the station through tears, "[T]hey need to put the guns down. They just need to put them down, they need to go find something better to do."
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